Saarbruuken does it again; Inter Miami aiming for another trophy; no big surprises in Europe; FA Cup lacking the magic of a Cinderella story; not-so-usual final four in Italy; and the Copa Del Rey final no one predicted.

I really had no idea what I would focus on this week, especially with my own soccer league on a bye week and so much already being written about Toronto FC’s start to the season.

Also, there was a lot of football – so, so much football – played this week (these are the weeks when the glorious gift of working from home pays off).

Since this was a week where a ton of cup competitions were played (technically the FA Cup is being played this weekend), it made perfect sense to write about the wonderous to the woeful.

I was going to start with the amazing German Cup (aka DFB Pokal), where truly magical moments have occurred this season.

However, while typing away this morning, Coventry City came back with two goals in less than two minutes in second half stoppage time to beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 3-2 and advance to the FA Cup semi-finals.

It’s a wonderful result for the Championship side and keeps a bit of magic in an FA Cup that seemed to lack it this campaign.

Another Championship side, Leicester, who will almost certainly be promoted back to the Premier League next season, hopes to join Coventry in the semis when they face Chelsea on Sunday (8:45 a.m. EST on Sportnet).

Meanwhile, Manchester City is heavy favourites at home to Newcastle (1:30 p.m. Saturday) and Man United host Liverpool on Sunday (11:30 a.m.).

SUPER SAARBRUKEN

Months ago, I led this column with a story about this tiny club from the German third division that had pulled a couple of huge upsets over topflight teams in their nation’s cup competition (the DFB Pokal/German Cup).

You  can read that column here: https://muskokaunlimited.com/2023/12/08/football-friday-fc-saarbrucken-keeps-cup-magic-alive/

Months later and that tiny team called FC Saarbruken is still alive, having knocked out (in order) Bayern Munich, Eintracht Frankfurt, and Monchengladbach (in the quarterfinals on Tuesday this week).

Before than they knocked out second division side Karlsruher in the in the first round.

In the quarterfinals, Saarbruken fell behind 1-0 to their Bundesliga opponents early in the first half but leveled the score on a super strike from Mohamed Amine Naifi not long after.

It wasn’t until a few minutes into second half stoppage time – with extra time looming – when they broke free and the ball landed on the foot of Kai Brunker, who slotted home the winner and sent their home stadium into hysterics.

What’s the most remarkable part of this situqation is that Saarbrurken is sitting in night place in the German third division yet are two wins away from earning a place in Europe as domestic cup winners earn a qualifying spot in the Europa League.

And that first win in the semi-finals is very much in play second division side 1. FCK on April 2 (2:45 p.m. on DAZN).

The other semi-final sees Bundesliga’s soon to be champions Bayer Leverkusen take on second division club Fortuna Dusseldorf on April 3 (2:45 p.m. on DAZN).

The DFB Pokal, with only one top team in the semi-finals, is the Cinderella story of the domestic cups this season.

MIAMI AIMING FOR CHAMPIONS CUP

Inter Miami came out flying at home on Thursday in the second leg of their round of 16 tie against Nashville, jumping out to an early 3-0 lead and not looking back.

I was extremely happy to see my buddy Super Frankie Disco was able to get tickets to that game with his kids and see Lionel Messi in action. Especially after Messi missed the game the first time they tried.

They won the two-legged tie 5-3, after having drawn 2-2 in Nashville, and now look ahead to their quarterfinal match-up against Mexico’s Monterrey.

The first leg is April 3 at 8 p.m. in Miami and the second leg is in Mexico on April 10 at 10:30 p.m. (FuboTV Canada has been streaming CONCACAF Champions Cup action this year).

With a focus on winning the Champions Cup, to go along with last season’s Leagues Cup trophy, Lionel Messi is set to miss a second straight MLS regular season game this weekend in D.C.

While many fans and season ticket holders throughout North America have either paid premiums – or were hoping to sell their tickets at a premium – the staff at Inter Miami should only have to worry about Inter Miami, their players, their goals, and their fans.

They have spent a lot of time and money putting together a roster that includes football’s GOAT, his buddies, and a half-decent supporting cast (that defense could hold them back against good teams).

The only thing that justifies that is winning trophies (or at least making it to finals) and lifting the Champions Cup should most definitely be the priority over early season MLS matches.

If that was your favourite team, you would want them to do the same thing.

UEFA PRETTY MUCH AS EXPECTED AS QUARTERS SET

Other than Inter Milan getting their tactics wrong and then missing chance after chance to knock out Atletico Madrid before falling in penalties, there weren’t many matchups that didn’t go as planned.

In terms of the above, I still believe overall Inter Milan is in the top 5 teams in the world, and likely only second to Man City, but that doesn’t mean anything if they don’t win continental trophies.

On that note, here are the Champions League Quarterfinal ties: Atletico Madrid v. Borussia Dortmund; Paris Saint-Germain v. Barcelona; Arsenal v. Bayern Munich; and Real Madrid v. Manchester City.

Not too much to get excited about in UEFA’s round of 16 competition … AS Roma did what they should do and knocked out an inferior Brighton side in the Europa League (even if everyone pretended it was a more even matchup).

AC Milan in the quarterfinals, while the third Europa League club from Serie A, Atalanta is up against EPL title contender Liverpool.

I have to say, the Europa League quarters feature mostly Champions League teams (either those who were in this year’s competition and moved down, or those who will be in it next year due to domestic results).

In other matchups, it will be Bayer Leverkusen vs West Ham United, and SL Benfica vs Olympique Marseille.

COPPA ITALIA FINAL FOUR

While this has been set for a while, my disappointment at Roma’s exit to Lazio prevented me from writing about it until now.

The truth is this competition is not as exciting as other domestic cups in other nations because it always heavily favours the Serie A clubs (especially the top eight from the previous season), giving them byes until the later rounds from the get-go.

It usually lacks the interesting impact of a second or third division team making it to the quarterfinals or further.

Ah well, sometimes it’s hard to get the dinosaurs in charge to change things. But, since it exists, we’ll mention it in this column.

The Coppa Italia final four, and subsequent two-legged ties, feature Lazio vs Juventus (first leg on April 2 at 3 p.m.) and Atalanta vs Fiorentina (first leg on April 3 at 3 p.m.).

COPA DEL REY FINAL

No Barcelona. No Real Madrid. No Atletico Madrid.

This year’s Copa Del Rey final features Atletic Club vs. Mallorca and it’s all you need to know about how Spain’s domestic cup competition played out this year.

Though it’s still two La Liga participants, it’s nice to see the biggest clubs out and the somewhat smaller teams with a shot a trophy.

That is what domestic cup magic is all about!

Next week we’ve got the International Break with Canada in action, plus the final three EURO 2024 qualifiers soon to be determined, some Toronto FC action, and the official crowning of Blue Moon as Huntsville Indoor Champions.